ABSTRACT
Background: Asthma is one of the chronic diseases that generate an impact on quality of life and major health care expenses. Aim: To evaluate the impact of asthma on primary attention expenses, the health related quality of life (HRQOL) and the sanitary resources use. Material and Methods: Follow up of a cohort of 56 asthmatic children aged 6 to 14 years (56 percent women), during 12 months. The severity and the impact of the disease on HRQOL was assessed using the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) video questionnaire and the Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAQLQ) respectively Costs were derived from the number of medical attentions, hospital admissions, medication requirements, school absenteeism among patients and work absenteeism among caregivers. Results: Patients required twice the number of medical attentions than the general population. Fourteen percent of children had severe asthma. Compared with subjects without severe asthma, the latter required more attentions (3.8 and 9.7 attentions per year respectively, p< 0.01), had a lower PAQLQ score (4.1 ±0.11 and 5.2 ± 1 respectively, p< 0.05) and a higher school absenteeism (10 and 27 days per year respectively, p < 0.01). Medication use was not different between patients with and without severe asthma. They early cost per patient was $ 106,550 (Chilean pesos). Conclusions: Asthma has a great impact on HRQOL and the use of primary attention resources, specially those children with severe asthma.